Sleep Measured by Ambulatory PSG

Another method used to obtain physiological sleep data that is gaining popularity is ambulatory PSG. It allows a person to sleep in their home environment while still providing comparable data as if the subject were tested in the lab (Reichert, Bloch, Cundiff, and Votteri 2003). Recent studies assessing sleep during pregnancy have utilized this method as it allows for more women to be evaluated and in their own home environment, without the loss of important data. One of the first ambulatory PSG studies of pregnant women was conducted by Coble, Reynolds, Kupfer, Houck, Day, and Giles (1994). They used in-home PSG that transmitted over phone lines for two nights at 12, 24, and 36 weeks respectively on 34 women: 14 with a history of affective disorder but not current and 20 without a history of affective disorder. They found modest differences in sleep between early pregnancy and late pregnancy; however, there was a decrease in REM latency during the 36th week of pregnancy (Coble et al. 1994). Using ambulatory PSG to assess the sleep differences between women who had preeclampsia at 33 weeks gestation and women with healthy pregnancies at 34 weeks gestation, Edwards, Blyton, Kesby, Wilcox, and Sullivan (2000) showed greater sleep disruption in women with preeclampsia. This study goes beyond comparing pregnant to nonpregnant women and provides data that confirm that sleep is disrupted in pregnancy and in pregnancy complications. Whether sleep disturbances precede the complication or vice versa is still under investigation.

Lastly, Lee et al. (2000) studied 33 women who served as their own controls. They were studied prepregnancy and throughout pregnancy with ambulatory PSG (Lee et al. 2000). Data showed that total sleep time and awakenings increased, while sleep efficiency declined during pregnancy compared to prepregnancy. No changes in REM sleep over the course of pregnancy were observed. Studies utilizing ambulatory PSG show comparable results to traditional laboratory assessed PSG. Due to the convenience of studying pregnant women in their home environment or in the hospital, ambulatory PSG is a logical choice to acquire physiological sleep data throughout pregnancy.

Have You Been Told Over And Over Again That You Snore A Lot, But You Choose To Ignore It? Have you been experiencing lack of sleep at night and find yourself waking up in the wee hours of the morning to find yourself gasping for air?